Press Update

Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick came to town last week to flog her funny flick, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” and nearly swooned when she landed in Boston.

“Every time I arrive on the East Coast, I like, FREAK OUT,” reports the Portland, Maine, homegal who got off the plane in Boston with co-stars Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman. “I’m like, ‘Can you feel it? Can you feel how AMAZING the air is here? How different it is here?’ And these guys are, like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’

“Maybe it’s a Pavlovian thing that I think the air feels different here in New England, but it does.”

Anna said she makes a beeline for Dunkin’ Donuts (there aren’t any in La-La) and she wants to be able to hear “TV commercials for law firms with Robert Vaughn going, ‘call 1-800 whatever.’ I love that. I love him!”
{bostonherald.com}

San Francisco Chronicle – Review: ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’

Anna Kendrick wasn’t sure what to think the first time she read Michael Bacall and director Edgar Wright’s screenplay for “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” an adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series about a Toronto bass player who must battle his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes before he can finally win her heart. The Oscar-nominated actress (“Up in the Air”) could not quite imagine how the words on the page would play on screen.

“Obviously, it’s a fantastic script, but it’s a little schizophrenic,” she says. “It’s a really difficult energy and tone to put on paper. The visual style is so much faster than your brain can read.”

… “I sort of have this lasting image of Edgar as the evil puppeteer, pulling our strings, because it was so specific,” Kendrick says. “It did sort of get to the point where you felt like you were being moved by a master, like every hand movement, eye movement was intentional. The whole movie feels handcrafted, and it’s almost like we were being handcrafted, as well.” … {sfgate.com}

NBC philadelphia – Michael Cera Vs. Jason Schwartzman: Who Would Win?

We spoke to Jason and Anna — who, by the way, were funny, fun and way down-to-earth — and they gave us their top five reasons why you should check out “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World”

Top Five Reasons according to Jason Schwartzman:
1) Funniest movie you’ll see all year
2) Second funniest movie you’ll see all year
3) It’s awesome
4) It’s got it all: comedy, action, romance, music
5) Michael Cera is a genius

So, both Jason and Anna agree, “It’s awesome” and so is Michael Cera, but, with the same amount of physical training, who would kick who’s butt in real life?

“I would never fight him, never,” says Schwartzman.

Kendrick confirms, “Jason would lay down his life before he fought Michael.” {nbcphiladelphia.com}

Boston Herald: “Pilgrim’s progress”

Michael Cera is notorious for playing the lovelorn leading man. But action star? Ah, not so much.

In the new video game flick “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” the star of “Superbad” and “Juno” finally gets to show off his action chops.

Directed by Edgar Wright of “Shaun of the Dead”fame, “Scott Pilgrim” is based on the cult-favorite graphic novel series of the same name. Cera plays Pilgrim, a Canadian musician in a band called Sex Bob-bomb, who must fight the ex-boyfriends of his current girlfriend.

“We had a few weeks in L.A. with a fight choreographer,” Cera told the Track. “And then a few more of conditioning in Toronto. It was a bonding experience for us.”

Rounding out the cast is Oscar-nominated “Up in the Air” beauty – and Portland, Maine, homegal – Anna Kendrick as Scott’s sister and “Rushmore” hunk Jason Schwartzman as Gideon, the most evil of the exes. They said they listened to the theme from “Rocky” before practicing roundhouse kicks.

“Everyone was very fun,” Michael said. “We had a workout mix.”

“Scott Pilgrim” debuted this year at Comic-Con, the annual San Diego convention for comic book and video game fanatics.

“It was great, because we got to show the whole film,“ director Wright said during the cast’s promotional swing through Boston yesterday. “I had to hug a guy who got lost, though.”

Kendrick claimed she became a fan of comic books by “sneaking into my brother’s room once in a while.” And Schwartzman, a video game aficionado, said he’s a fan of “Mega Man.”

. . . Kendrick, 25, earned an Oscar-nomination for her role in Up in the Air opposite George Clooney and is known in younger circles for her appearance in the Twilight movies.

This fast-talking, no nonsense woman, is not your regular Hollywood starlet and seems genuinely appreciative of her opportunities. Suggesting she could write a “how-to” book for aspiring actresses, she insists, “Not at all. Listen, it’s just dumb luck. Totally, dumb luck.

“I did a film called Rocket Science that no one saw except the directors of Twilight, Up in the Air, and Scott Pilgrim. Seriously, I don’t have a master plan. I’m just lucky.”

Kendrick first watched the film with the over-the-top, passionate Comicon audience. “It was a pretty intense way to see a film like this, with 4000 comic book fans. It was pretty crazy,” she laughs.

“The crowd was … very interesting. It was like a freak show. I mean, it’s certainly not my world, but the fans seemed to really appreciate the movie.

“What impresses me about these fans is that they’re smart enough to not do that thing of, ‘Oh, well in the books, actually Amy Adams says that line’. They’re like, ‘Oh cool, they got that line in there! That’s such a funny line, I’m glad they found a place for that or I’m glad they found a place for that moment’. Not like, when you see The Notebook with your annoying friend and they’re like, ‘Actually, what happened in the book was …” and I’m like, ‘I don’t give a s***!”‘

As opposed to other comic book-inspired movies like Iron Man or Spider-Man, Scott Pilgrim doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is the secret to its appeal. No doubt, there will like be an onslaught of Pilgrim copycats in the future.

“Yes, people will try to rip this movie off,” Kendrick agrees.

“It will be the biggest movie this year,” she adds, for dramatic effect.

Does that mean Kendrick is declaring Pilgrim will do better than her recent movie, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? She laughs. “On come on! Don’t put me in that position!”

Kendrick may have an enviable resume; however, she says, “I’m a sci-fi fantasy fan and even though Scott Pilgrim and Twilight have those elements, I’m not part of the fantasy worlds, I’m always the one grounded in reality. I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan and Star Wars, too. It’s a bummer I didn’t get to play Galadriel [in LOTR], but I guess Cate Blanchett was okay,” she deadpans. {nzherald.co.nz}

The star hurtled into public consciousness after she was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Up in the Air this year. She also appears in the Twilight film franchise, and her burgeoning career means she is constantly invited to posh premieres and showbiz parties.

While most celebrities enjoy meeting other famous faces and getting dressed up for the evening, Anna loathes it.

“Oh my God, no, I hate it. It’s literally the worst thing in the world, but I’m trying to get better at it,” she explained. “It is part of the job and a skill like anything else, so I just smile through it, look pretty and pretend the photographers aren’t yelling at me.”

Anna has always been happier at home than out at noisy nightclubs, and that hasn’t changed. She doesn’t understand why people find it pleasurable to be somewhere where it’s so loud they can’t talk, and would rather stay curled up on her sofa.

“I haven’t really changed,” she told Company magazine. “I feel really lucky to be doing the work I’m doing, but everything else around me is basically the same. I still prefer sitting at home watching movies instead of going out to bars.” {musicrooms.net}

Anna Kendrick: I am Stacy. I think the relationship between Stacy and Scott rings really true. It’s sort of snarky and she does take a little bit of pleasure in making him squirm in awkward situations but that really rang true to me, because I have that relationship with my older brother. Even when we reach out to say ‘I know you’re going through a tough time and I’m here for you,’ you have to follow that up with ‘But you still totally suck and I’m going to call you a douchebag in twenty minutes anyway.’

Q: Anna, with your experience in theater, how does it compare against movies? Do you have a preference?

AK: Jason and I were talking about this earlier actually. He brought up an interesting point about the fan’s experience of you on stage versus on screen, and how on stage it’s cool because this person isn’t anywhere else, but here right now performing. And when it’s on film…(looking at Jason)…I’m sorry I’m totally stealing your quote.

JS: I don’t mind I stole it from Kevin Kline.

AK: When they’re watching on screen they are watching a copy of you so that’s really interesting, but I think the great thing about theater is doing a whole piece start to finish and kind of riding the wave and riding the arc of that, making it different every night. The scene in Act 1 you were a bit more sensitive so you react to that and change your performance every night, maybe not in a way that the audience perceives but that’s really fun and makes things interesting.

Then when you’re on film it’s like emotional jigsaw puzzles. Well the thing we shot later in the film, I should give some options in this scene because I want to make sure they have whatever they need to match whatever emotion they end up using, or whatever take they end up using from that scene that comes later. That’s like really fun, it’s like a puzzle. Both experiences are different and interesting, and there are pros and cons to each but obviously neither is superior to the other.

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“The most important thing to me, and the most impressive thing to me, is when, whether it’s the writer, director, actor… they put something across on-screen that makes me think ‘I wish I were brave enough to say that.’ I think that’s the only reason to create anything. To stand up and say ‘I’m this way, I don’t know if anybody else is, but I feel like I need to communicate that.’ And that is something that I think is the most noble and courageous thing to do with art – to say ‘Maybe you should forgive yourself for whatever it is that you’re embarrassed about.’”